Report: Activision-Blizzard owners consider cash-grab

Vivendi, the 61% shareholder of Activision-Blizzard, may look to force the company to take out loans and offer up large dividends, following failed attempt to sell off one of the world’s largest games publishers.

According to the Financial Times (via Reuters), Vivendi has considered accepting a tender offer from Activision-Blizzard that would be funded by a bank loan but is also likely to seek a pay-out from a dividend also funded by a loan.

The considerations come as rules that required Vivendi to seek the Activision-Blizzard’s board approval for any move that would put the company in $400 million net debt above are set to expire.

With the safeguards set to end this Tuesday, Vivendi could force the Activision-Blizzard to pay-out a special dividend.

This move comes after longstanding rumours that the French company was unhappy with the game publisher’s performance and forced in a new board member.

James Lee

James Lee is a freelance writer and analyst with extensive experience in the technology, media and games sectors. For the past few years he has provided content for internationally published industry reports, SEO companies and a variety of news-focused websites. Prior to this, James was responsible for covering news and producing in-depth features for GamesIndustry.biz while occasionally contributing to its sister-site. Eurogamer.net. In addition to this he has contributed to other notable sites such as CVG.co.uk, Edge-Online and DigitalSpy.